Is there any limit to what a great soprano can do? There’s a host of roles that astonish and delight us: true showcases of extraordinary musical and dramatic talent from across the history of opera. We’ve gathered together some of our favourites, starting with…

Mozart wrote the role of the Queen in The Magic Flute for his sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who was famous for her outstanding vocal technique and high notes. The Queen of the Night’s two dramatic arias are accordingly packed with fiendish coloratura, taking the soprano voice to amazing heights, particularly in the Act II aria ‘Die Hölle Rache’.

Elena is one of several roles that Rossini wrote for his first wife Isabella Colbran. Colbran had an exceptionally wide vocal range and the writing for Elena spans the gamut. The opera culminates in one of Rossini’s greatest showpieces for the female voice: Elena’s virtuoso Act II aria ‘Tanti affetti’.

Norma requires immense stamina, vocal agility and (particularly for the aria ‘Casta diva’) lyricism and beauty of tone. But the challenges don’t stop there: the singer also has to convey the varied and intense emotions of a heroine torn between religious devotion and jealousy, romantic passion and maternal love.

Lucia is another role that makes huge demands on a soprano’s stamina: she has to retain enough energy through the demands of Acts I and II in order to carry off Act III’s famous mad scene – a breathtaking display containing a stratospheric virtuoso cadenza accompanied by glass harmonica.

Abigaille is a notoriously difficult part: it calls for a singer with a powerful, very agile voice who can move from the bottom to the very top of her range at great speed. Even the most lyrical of Abigaille’s arias, ‘Anch’io dischiuso un giorno’, includes a thrilling two-octave leap.

Brünnhilde is often seen as a dramatic soprano’s ultimate challenge. She must sound equally comfortable in the high notes of her opening war cry in Die Walküre and in the low-lying passages that punctuate Götterdämmerung. She must be heroic and tender, vengeful and noble. And above all, she must have the stamina to sing in three operas, each more than five hours long!

Olympia the doll is only on stage for about half an hour, and for much of that time simply says ‘oui’. But her one aria ‘Les oiseaux dans la charmille’ is a virtuoso tour de force, each verse adorned with ever more elaborate coloratura. The part also calls for comic acting: Olympia’s mechanics periodically run down and stop her mid-flow.

At 90 minutes, Elektra is relatively short role – but it’s fiercely difficult. The singer has to project over a vast, intricately-scored orchestra and sing some of the most dramatic, declamatory music ever written for soprano, while also conveying lyrical tenderness in her reunion scene with Orest. She also needs to retain enough physical energy for the dance which brings the opera to its devastating close.

Like Elektra, Turandot requires a powerful high voice and a singer able to execute very declamatory vocal writing with ease. The role also poses dramatic challenges: how can a soprano make this murderous princess sympathetic enough to convince us she deserves a happy ending?

This near-impossible part requires a singer with a three-octave range who can shift from intense lyricism to flamboyant high coloratura to speech – sometimes within the space of one aria. The character is also dramatically deeply enigmatic, and is onstage for every scene of this four-hour opera.

Possibly the highest role ever written for soprano, Adès’s ‘airy spirit’ enters The Tempest singing 17 full-voiced Es two and a bit octaves above middle C – and continues in a similar range for most of the opera. The high notes aren’t limited to coloratura either: many of them are in slow and sustained passages, which is fiendishly challenging.

Which fiendishly difficult roles would you include?
Let us know in the comments below.

In this clip they discuss what it is to be a singing artist, via a unique analogy for the human voice - that of a glass.

'A glass is not a mirror - you do not see yourself in it', says Dame Janet. 'You look through it at the audience or at the responsibility which you have to the composer and librettist. You have to keep the glass clean and have to be able to see out to that purpose which is bigger than you are. You've also got to allow people to look in.'

Singing is a more athletic, energetic and elite form of speech. The voice is a wonderful, mysterious instrument – hidden from view, so all the singer has to rely on is sound and feel.

The vocal folds, which are tiny, the size of your little fingernail, are the source of the sound. They are connected to the lungs as the power source, the abdominal muscles and diaphragm are the generators. In a woman, during normal speech, the vocal folds flutter together around 220 times a second, in a man it’s around 130. Singing can raise this by up to a thousand more. Next, the vocal tract shapes the sound – this is the tubing around the back of the nose, throat and tongue, including the mouth, lips and teeth. The sound produced by the vocal folds is made up of all sorts of harmonics and partials, which can be accentuated or attenuated in certain places in the vocal tract.

Some people are genetically predisposed to be good at this, but it’s possible to learn to achieve that lovely ringing sound, which carries so well with such clarity – the singer’s formant.

What makes a great operatic voice?

It is a combination of genetics – the size of the larynx, vocal folds and length of the vocal tract, and those other intangible, non-physical qualities: musicality, imagination, temperament.

How can a singer care for their voice?

Always stay well hydrated. The vocal folds, which are fluttering together to make the sound, need to have a wet surface, and if you are not secreting enough lubricant, what little is there becomes viscous. As the vocal folds come together in the closed phase they stick, so you have to increase the effort to burst them open again. They will then recoil and slap together. It is the equivalent of walking through mud – exhausting.

Singing in the full throes of a cold is quite dangerous, but if the cold is on the way out I advise singers to steam for an hour, using an electric steamer, to shift anything left and reintroduce moisture. But stay away from anything that dehydrates – particularly menthol or decongestants. Warm-up and cool-down exercises are important. If a singer has been using their voice in a restricted register – say very high – afterwards it’s a good idea to bring the larynx and vocal cords back to neutral by doing some descending scales and trills for a few minutes.

Acid reflux is another very common problem; even just the vapours from stomach acids are harmful – they contain pepsin, a protein-degrading enzyme, and the larynx is made of protein. So no late-night meals of spicy or acidic foods.

Unlike any other instrument you can’t pack a voice away in a case when you are finished – it is always there in a singer’s day-to-day life and they have to be aware of that.

In my clinics, I see people in crisis, which for a singer is terrifying – it’s not just their job, it’s their identity too. However, I say never waste a good crisis – it’s a time to change things for the better. But I am impressed with how well The Royal Opera looks after its singers. As I meet with them I encounter very few problems, which shows that the investment in their future is good.

Enjoy an evening of free opera, with exclusive backstage films, competitions and the best performances relayed live to the big screen. Bring a picnic and share the experience with friends, family, and the tens of thousands of people also watching from across the UK.

Costume PartyAn afternoon of free festival fun for the whole family on Saturday 11 July, with the chance to dress up in the Royal Opera House’s famous costumes, make your own outfits and accessories, meet the opera diva Carmen, watch the Firebird dance, and much more.

Events will take place from 12 noon across the High House Production Park site and will include activities with Kinetika, the High House Artists Studios, and The Backstage Centre. Refreshments will be available all day and there will be prizes awarded for the best selfies taken on the ‘virtual catwalk’ – participants can even gain their own Discover Arts Award. Wacky outfits welcome!

‘The most beautiful [performance] is the most simple, the most natural, and the most human; but that takes a lot of strength and experience,’ John told presenter Suzy Klein of his approach to performance, during the interview that followed the session.

‘Nobody is perfect. Ideally you need to have perfect fluency in the language, a perfect vocal technique, a wonderful theatrical presence and acting ability, and great musicality with your ears wide open so that you’re not just singing notes – you’re singing notes which are in the chord. You have to tune into the chord in the orchestra. If you sing a B-flat, every B-flat is slightly different.’

John came from a musical family and realized very young that he was in possession of an incredible voice: ‘I was made aware of it by my school friends in assembly. We used to sing hymns in those days. Everybody looked and said, “My God, what is that noise!?”. I’m the youngest of five and they all sang at the piano every evening. I was the littlest, so I had to make a louder noise than everyone else!’

The bass also spoke of the importance of language coaching, particularly his idiomatic grasp of German, which has informed his acclaimed Wagner performances over the years, marrying to stunning effect with the composer’s musical intentions: ‘You’re learning all the time. It’s all about naturalness. Every vowel should be natural. Simplicity and purity are very important in the projection of the voice. If you’re not quite singing the right vowel it will be lost.’

John Tomlinson will perform in WNO’s Moses und Aron at Covent Garden on 25 and 26 July 2014. General booking opens on 8 April 2014.

Last Sunday a packed Covent Garden Piazza saw attention temporarily diverted from frenzied shopping and cross-disciplinary buskers by a large group of people singing (seemingly spontaneously) in Italian. The performance – or ‘flashmob’ - brought the Festival of Voices to a close; part of Stephen Fry’s Deloitte Ignite festival.

Amateurs and professionals alike joined together to perform Verdi’s rousing ‘Va pensiero’ chorus from Nabucco following a series of free performances and workshops. The event featured the BBC Symphony Chorus, topped by the fantastic sound of the Brass Section from the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Upstairs in the Clore Studio choral ambassador Dominic Peckham and vocal animateur Suzi Zumpe ran three inspiring workshops for Royal Opera House newcomers. Singers from the BBC Symphony Chorus and brass players from the BBC Concert Orchestra joined them as they learned Verdi’s famous chorus ready for the early evening performance which stopped passers-by in their tracks.

We will be publishing a film looking behind the scenes of the full day later in the week – but wanted to give a glimpse of an amazing part of the Festival of Voices.

Attendees will be able to take part in workshops including different sessions introducing choral singing, beat-boxing and singing in a gospel choir. Some workshops are available for both children and adults.

All of the workshops cost £3 and the concerts are £8 (concessions £6). Refreshments will be available to purchase throughout the day. On Saturday and Sunday evening, during the concerts, food stalls and a bar will be available.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn a different way to use your voice – or if you’re wondering whether or not joining a choir is right for you – come along to find out more. FUSED will be held in London Cruise Terminal, Ferry Road, Tilbury, RM18 7NG.